Well look at that, it's June 1st already! This means E3 is next week, and summer starts in just a few weeks. It also means today is the deadline for MrsBlue to tell her work whether we are accepting their offer to relocate to the west coast. We vacillated wildly on making this decision, but at this point have decided we will decline, and continue to inflict our presence on the east coast. It's conceivable that they will go all Don Corleone on us and make her an offer she cannot refuse, but barring that we plan on staying put.

As already said, the actual important thing here is making someone "break" in so you can file a police report and get reimbursed by your insurance for any stolen or damaged possessions. If they want in and you aren't home, they are getting in...

Orogogus wrote on Jun 2, 2012, 02:14:The coffee and toothpaste bit was clearly a joke. Folgers Crystals used to have a commercial back in the 80s about how they would secretly replace someone's leading brand coffee with Folgers Crystals, let's see if he can tell the difference.

Ah, that makes sense. I'm Australian, so never heard of Folgers, let alone seen their commercials. Whenever I hear someone (usually American, but I'm trying not to generalise too much) complaining about being picked on by 'the Man' I try to apply Occam's Razor - 'the Man' has much better things to do than try to oppress your freedom to build potato guns and pipe bombs in your basement, and better things to spend taxpayers' money on than constantly monitoring ordinary citizens who think their philosophies are so radical they pose a threat to the government (SPOILER: They're not.)

Stormsinger wrote on Jun 1, 2012, 20:56:Yeah, I'm going to take my security advice from a guy who thinks someone is replacing his coffee and toothpaste to make him insane. Totally invalidates the rest of his article, as I don't accept guidance from psychotics.

Exactly what I thought - the poster is suffering from paranoid delusions; home security is the least of his worries. I love the fact that conspiracy theorists think they are so important that the government will spend so much time and money to keep them quiet or "intimidate" them.

The coffee and toothpaste bit was clearly a joke. Folgers Crystals used to have a commercial back in the 80s about how they would secretly replace someone's leading brand coffee with Folgers Crystals, let's see if he can tell the difference.

Some of the other stuff about the government secretly breaking into his home didn't sound like a joke, though. That was a little weird. I mean, I think the government can just break a window and go in if they've got their jackboots on. It's hard to imagine them worrying about unpickable locks.

The Half Elf wrote on Jun 1, 2012, 20:11:And on a separate note I once again took the plunge and ordered Guild Wars 2 (Digital Deluxe Edition not the Collectors like GW 1), and have been trying to avoid all info and somewhat enjoy it when it launches/beta.Anything I need to know about Beta weekends/etc?

Nope. Just make sure to give the Known Issues thread a read. It'll answer a lot of questions - like the current client being unoptimized for the GPU, though we'll see if that changes for next weekend. The unofficial RP server is Tarnished Coast and I'm playing on that one meself. You're going to enjoy it.

"During times of universal deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act."

Stormsinger wrote on Jun 1, 2012, 20:56:Yeah, I'm going to take my security advice from a guy who thinks someone is replacing his coffee and toothpaste to make him insane. Totally invalidates the rest of his article, as I don't accept guidance from psychotics.

Exactly what I thought - the poster is suffering from paranoid delusions; home security is the least of his worries. I love the fact that conspiracy theorists think they are so important that the government will spend so much time and money to keep them quiet or "intimidate" them.

Blue, the only thing that I'm pretty sure you, a sports fan, would have loved about living on the West Coast would be, for instance, Monday Night Football and World Series Games start around 6:00 instead of 9:00. I don't know how you guys do it, especially if you have to be at work by 7:00 the next morning like me.

The only semi-bad thing about it is on Sundays during football season I get absolutely nothing done since NFL pre-game shows start at 7:00am with the Sunday Night game finishing up around 8:30pm. Not to mention how badly it taxes the Depends undergarment that I'm usually wearing to avoid moving from the couch.

Yeah, I'm going to take my security advice from a guy who thinks someone is replacing his coffee and toothpaste to make him insane. Totally invalidates the rest of his article, as I don't accept guidance from psychotics.

Silicon Avatar wrote on Jun 1, 2012, 12:34:California seems like it'd be more fun to visit than live in.

The thing I like about living in California is there is all types of country here: rural, forests, mountains, deserts, busy metropolitan areas, tiny secluded hamlets. So if I want a change of pace it's never too long a drive away. Southern California, I love to visit it and always have a blast when I'm there (I adopt my naughty "vacation persona") but wow, I could not imagine anything worse than living there.

So excited for you Blue that you get to stay in your lifelong home. But I imagine now that's almost as scary as moving would have been - unless they make that Don Corleone offer or they manage to find a place for MrsBlue in NY.

And being a native Californian, I totally miss a few hours drive to the desert, or mountains, or snow, or whatever ya wanted. No snow, low humidity, I miss it.Could I afford to live in California now some 20 years later? HELL NO.

And on a separate note I once again took the plunge and ordered Guild Wars 2 (Digital Deluxe Edition not the Collectors like GW 1), and have been trying to avoid all info and somewhat enjoy it when it launches/beta.Anything I need to know about Beta weekends/etc?

Using a steering wheel on a Burnout game is like using the Space Shuttle controls to fly a kite.

PHJF wrote on Jun 1, 2012, 18:01:Heh, I figured out how useless locks were when I dabbled in lock picking/pick making. I picked my house's own front door in less than a minute on my first attempt with my own pick. Fact is if somebody *really* wants in them can just kick the door down or bash a window. Since most thievery happens while people are away at work you're pretty well screwed without an alarm system or some kind of reinforced windows and shit.

I think the biggest thing is that insurance companies will not reimburse without sign of forced entry. A broken down door is good evidence, but a fiddled-with lock isn't really. :/

Heh, I figured out how useless locks were when I dabbled in lock picking/pick making. I picked my house's own front door in less than a minute on my first attempt with my own pick. Fact is if somebody *really* wants in them can just kick the door down or bash a window. Since most thievery happens while people are away at work you're pretty well screwed without an alarm system or some kind of reinforced windows and shit.

Just go ahead and get the Medeco locks mentioned -- they were best buy recommendations from Consumer Reports in the June 2011 issue. I went and checked, a nearby locksmith had a couple in stock for $183, and could order more if needed.